2007-08 MM "The truth is not always in a well": The Detective Figure in American Fiction

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ATTENTION! ROOM CHANGE!

This class will from now on take place in room A14 0-031.

Winter Term 2007/08

Lecturer: Christina Meyer

Office Hours: Tue 3:30-4:30pm; A06 2-212

Fon: 0441-798-4570

E-Mail: christina.meyer@uni-oldenburg.de



Comment

This course starts out to explain what crime fiction is, and to provide a historical overview, from "The Murders in Rue Morgue" to the contemporary American television series CSI. The course aims to deepen our understanding of the origins and developments of crime fiction in US popular culture. From 19th century detective stories, we will 'stroll' to hard-boiled detective figures, explore constructions of masculinity, and trace concepts of race and gender in crime fiction. A brief excursus will take us to the neglected author of the Yellowthread Street mysteries: William Marshall.

Apart from an examination of the (theoretical) anatomy of 'classic' detective stories, (modern) crime novels, thrillers, and mystery stories, and analyses of developments, modifications and innovations in the genre of crime fiction, we will also tackle the following matters: female detective figures, European writers and their detective figures, and recent (filmic) bestsellers on the American market. A further and last step will be on postmodern crime fiction. Paul Auster's New York Trilogy (City of Glass) shall serve as a paradigmatic example.

Prerequisites for certificate: regular attendance, active participation, periodic short written homework, in-class oral presentation (approx. 15 minutes), final paper (10-12 pages, approx. 5000 words) Starting on: 22.10.2007

Please purchase Paul Auster's City of Glass (Penguin; approx. 12,50 Euros); all other texts will be made available in the reader, and/or will be distributed in class.


Syllabus

Intro

Oct. 22, 2007 

            Organization


Part I: Strolling on the Rue Morgue

Oct. 29, 2007 

            Whodunit? Any Other Questions?
            Texts: 1) H. Sanders, “Die Welt ist, was der Fall ist. Poetologische 
            Randnotizen zum Kriminalroman“; 2) E. A. Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

Nov. 5, 2007 

            E.A. Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” cont’d
            Presentation: “Auguste Dupin, Joseph Rouletabille, Arsène Lupin, Sherlock 
            Holmes, Hercule Poirot – The Early (European) Detective Figures”


Part II: (Post/Modern) Crime Fiction in the 20th Century

Nov. 12, 2007 

            Hard-Boiled Detective Stories 
            Presentation: “The ‘Private-Eye’ in the Hard-Boiled Detective Genre”
            Texts: 1) Raymond Chandler, “A Smart-Aleck Kill; 2) Erin A. Smith, “How the 
            Other Half Read: Advertising, Working-Class Readers, and Pulp Magazines”

Nov. 19, 2007 

            Hard-Boiled Detective Stories cont’d
            Presentation: “Chester Himes and the Harlem Detectives”
            Texts: excerpts from Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson

Nov. 26, 2007 

            Hard-Boiled Detective Stories cont’d
            Texts: excerpts from Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson
            Written assignment I: Mid-term essay (topic will be distributed in class)

Dec. 3, 2007 

            Housewife Investigator: Oedipa Maas 
            Text: Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (excerpts)

Dec. 10, 2007 

            Is there a Post-Colonial Detective?
            Presentation: “What’s so ‘Post’ about Post-Colonialism?”
            William Marshall, Yellowthread Street

Dec. 17, 2007 

            Is there a Post-Colonial Detective? cont’d
            William Marshall, Yellowthread Street


CHRISTMAS BREAK


Jan. 7, 2008 

            Strolling on the Rues of New York: Paul Auster, City of Glass
            Presentation: “Postmodern Crime Fiction?”
            ATTENTION: Deadline to submit the mid-term essay

Jan. 14, 2008 

            Strolling on the Rues of New York: Paul Auster, City of Glass cont’d

Jan. 21, 2008 

            Strolling on the Rues of New York: Paul Auster, City of Glass cont’d
            Text: Jeffrey T. Nealon, “Work of the Detective, Work of the Writer: Paul 
            Auster’s City of Glass” or William Lavender “The Novel of Critical 
            Engagement: Paul Auster’s City of Glass”
            Written assignment II: topic will be distributed in class


Part III: Crime on TV

Jan. 28, 2008 

            The Body as Evidence: CSI
            Presentation: “Regarding the Pain of Others: The Reader/Audience as 
            Consuming Voyeur?”
            Text: Mark Seltzer, “Wound Culture: Trauma in the Pathological Public Sphere“

Febr. 4, 2008 

            The Body as Evidence cont’d
            Leaving the Rue Morgue


Reading Requirements

  • Auster, Paul. City of Glass. New York et al.: Penguin. 1987.
  • Chandler, Raymond. “Smart-Aleck Kill.“ Stories and Early Novels. 4th printing. Library of America 79. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1995. 52-93.
  • Hammett, Dashiell. “The Maltese Falcon.” Complete Novels. 4th printing. Library of America 110. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1999. (excerpts)
  • Lavender, William. “The Novel of Critical Engagement: Paul Auster’s City of Glass.” Contemporary Literature 34.2 (Summer 1993): 219-239.
  • Marshall, William. Yellowthread Street. London & Sydney: Futura, 1975.
  • Nealon, Jeffrey T. “Work of the Detective, Work of the Writer: Paul Auster’s City of Glass”. Modern Fiction Studies 42.1 (1996): 91-110.
  • Poe, Edgar Allan. “TheMurder in the Rue Morgue.” Selected Tales. London, New York et al.: Penguin, 1994. 118-153.
  • Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. London: Vintage, 2002. (excerpts)
  • Sanders, Hans. “Die Welt ist, was der Fall ist. Poetologische Randnotizen zum Kriminalroman.“ Romanistische Zeitschrift für Literaturgeschichte 3.4 (1993): 387-403.
  • Seltzer, Mark. “Wound Culture: Trauma in the Pathological Public Sphere.“ October 80 (Spring 1997): 3-26.
  • Smith, Erin A. “How the Other Half Read: Advertising, Working-Class Readers, and Pulp Magazines.” Book History 3 (2000): 204-230.
  • Thompson, Jim. Nothing More Than Murder.1949. New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 1991. (excerpts)
  • Thompson, Jim. The Killer Inside Me. 1952. New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 1991. (excerpts)


Texts are available at “Wersig” (copy shop, Ammerländer Heerstr. 108). Reading suggestions and additional texts (for oral presentations) will be made available in the course reader on the reserve shelf in the library. Further texts will be distributed in class, and/or will be made available in the library.

Term Paper (Suggestions)

  • The Contemporary American Police Novel
  • Representations of (Sexual) Violence in Crime Fiction
  • New Journalism and Crime Fiction – In Cold Blood, A Case Study
  • Aspects of Race and Gender in American Crime Fiction
  • The Reader’s Eye: Aesthetic Pleasure and Crime Fiction.
  • The Golden Age of the Detective Story
  • What do we talk about when we talk about Hard-Boiled Detective Stories?
  • Contemporary Women Writers of Crime Fiction
  • Post-9/11 Crime Fiction
  • Post-9/11 Detective Television Series: “CSI New York”
  • The Postmodern ‘Private Eye’
  • City of Glass, A Graphic Adaptation: Comics and Crime Fiction – A Case Study
  • African American Crime Fiction
  • Shaft: The 1970s and Crime Film
  • Serial Killers
  • The American Thriller
  • What is Postmodern Crime Fiction?
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